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Religion (Civ5)
Religion is a feature reintroduced in the Civilization V: Gods & Kings expansion pack. It is a system of bonuses, which may enhance considerably your civilization's abilities, although it doesn't lead to a separate victory. Unlike other aspects of the game, it is definitely possible to win without even creating a Pantheon. However, considering the power of Religion, it is highly advisable you attempt to create one. There are eleven religions to choose from (thirteen in Brave New World). These religions, however, are little more than the icons that represent them - it doesn't matter which one you pick because you can customize it at your own will. You can even change the name, if you'd like. Mechanics Religion doesn't exist at the start of a game (unlike Culture or Science, which start developing immediately after settling the Capital). It has to be created, first, and the path to this depends on a new stat resource - Faith. Faith is a resource similar to Culture. It can normally be accumulated via buildings within cities (e.g. Shrine), but after some development, Faith may be earned through various other means, including Terrain features and Religious City-States. Furthermore, some natural wonders and tile improvements allow for Faith accumulation. Faith is initially used to found pantheons and get Great Prophets, but after you've found a Religion (or at least after some of your cities have converted to another religion), you can expend Faith to purchase certain units (such as Great Prophets, Missionaries, Inquisitors). Beliefs can also be used to allow faith to purchase other units and buildings as well. Beliefs are the practical effects of religions and pantheons, selected when they are founded. Each belief is unique and may only be selected by one religion/pantheon in the game - thus each religion/pantheon is distinct from all others and have no overlapping effects. The path to Religion Your path to creating a religion starts with founding a Pantheon. Founding a Pantheon Pantheons are simple, proto-religious Beliefs. When enough Faith has been accumulated, it may be spent to found a pantheon. A pantheon allows for one pantheon belief to be chosen. Each successive pantheon founded in the world costs more Faith to found. Pantheons may not be founded once a religion has enhanced and there are as many pantheons in the world as allowed religions. Founding a Religion After you have founded a pantheon, a Great Prophet will eventually appear (through further Faith accumulation, or from completing Wonders). He has the special ability of "Found a Religion". Use it to create your own! The founding of a religion consists of selecting an icon and a name for your religion (you may choose among the contemporary religious symbols and the real-world name related to it, or you can type a new name at your own); and then selecting one Founder belief and one Follower belief. They are then added to your Pantheon belief for the formation of your Religion. The city where the Prophet was turns into the Holy City for that Religion, and is immediately converted to it (most of its citizens start following it, though not all - some still remain pagans). Finally, a second Great Prophet can be used to enhance the religion, allowing you to choose a second Follower belief and an Enhancer belief. You can also choose a Bonus belief when founding a religion if you are playing as Byzantium. In Brave New World, if you adopt the Reformation policy in the Piety tree, you can choose one Reformation belief. Only a limited number of religions can be founded, determined by map size. However, unlike in the previous game, following a different religion from an opposing civilization does not cause a diplomacy penalty. Spreading a religion Religion spreads in two ways: Automatically and via Religious agents. If a city has a dominant/majority religion (at least half of its population are its followers), the city starts exerting religious pressure to all other cities within 10 tiles, regardless of their civilization affiliation. This pressure results in conversion of citizens in those cities. Note that if the target city already has a majority religion, it needs at least two cities from another religion to start the conversion process. By default, the amount of religious pressure each city exerts is 6. Pressure from various cities adds together for increased effect. The greater the pressure, the faster citizens in that city convert to the new religion. If there are more than one religion competing for influence in a given city, the one with greater pressure gains the upper hand, eventually converting the entire city. The second way of spreading a religion is by using Missionaries and Great Prophets. You may move those to target cities, and when they're in, or right next to them, they may use their special power to immediately convert some citizens to their religion. Generally, it's easier to convert Pagan cities (those that have no majority religion yet). Note that the presence of an Inquisitor in the city greatly diminishes the effect of this type of conversion. See the individual articles for more information on religious agents' special powers. You may purchase Missionaries and Inquisitors from cities with Faith, once you've created a religion. Initially, Great Prophets only appear automatically once a certain minimum amount of Faith has been accumulated (the amount increases for each Great Prophet), but once you enter the Industrial Era, Great Prophets become available to purchase from cities. Also, if you chose the necessary beliefs, you would even be able to purchase certain Buildings, such as a Cathedral or a Monastery in cities following your religion! Those buildings aren't constructable by any other means, they're only purchasable with Faith. Another interesting fact: Once you've completed certain Social Policy trees, you may also purchase other types of Great People with Faith starting from the Industrial Era! Religions There are thirteen religions to choose from, and they are: * Buddhism * Christianity (Catholicism ) * Confucianism * Eastern Orthodoxy * Hinduism * Islam * Judaism * Protestantism * Shinto * Sikhism * Taoism * Tengriism * Zoroastrianism In the original version of Religion included with Gods and Kings, there were eleven religions, including Christianity. Due to the amount of Christian civilizations, however, it has now been split into three religions based on the three major sects of Christianity as in Brave New World. The three sects of Christianity in Brave New World are Catholicism, a reused version of the original Christian religion, and Eastern Orthodoxy and Protestantism, two religions which originally appeared in the Gods and Kings scenario Into the Renaissance. Beliefs Beliefs are split into four categories: Pantheons, Founder Beliefs, Follower Beliefs, and Enhancer Beliefs. In Brave New World, a new category called Reformation Beliefs is added. You can have up to five beliefs (six in Brave New World) in the religion you found after it has enhanced. Please note that there is also an additional Bonus Belief, exclusive to Byzantium, increasing the number of beliefs to six (seven in Brave New World). Also note that once a belief is chosen, it's impossible to change it, and it also becomes unique to that religion. You can only choose any of the beliefs that no other civilizations have. Pantheons Pantheons provide basic bonuses for resources or cities. You may found a Pantheon when you accumulate enough Faith. Founder Beliefs These beliefs provide basic bonuses for the founding empire of the religion. You may choose one of these beliefs when founding a religion. Follower Beliefs These beliefs provide bonuses for the cities following this religion. You can choose one of these beliefs when founding a religion, but when the religion enhances, you may choose another. Enhancer Beliefs Enhancer beliefs provide additional bonuses that may help you in spreading your religion. You may choose one of these beliefs only when the religion enhances. Reformation Beliefs Reformation beliefs, added in Brave New World, provide powerful, game-changing bonuses. You can choose one of these beliefs after adopting the Reformation policy in the Piety tree. Strategy It is very advisable, although not essential to make your own religion and spread it as wide as possible. Religion can serve as great booster to your chosen Victory path, if you tailor it well. There's a limited number of Religions that can be founded. If you dally too long in the beginning of the game, you will never be able to found a Religion. To prevent that, a Shrine should be one of the very first buildings you build in your capital, maybe right after the Monument. Also, you may probably want to build Stonehenge for massive Faith boost. This will allow you to at least found a Pantheon, although that won't do you much good when other religions convert your cities. So, try to build couple of more Shrines in your first cities to ensure that you'll produce enough Faith to get a Great Prophet in time. Once you found a religion, you could take your time to enhance it. Successful religion depends on the combination of Beliefs you choose. You can make a strong Culture-boosting religion, or you can earn Gold through religion, or you can even add your military! Think VERY well before choosing Beliefs and try to combine their effects to suit your playstyle, chosen civilization and victory path. Of course, the earlier you found and enhance your Religion, the more Beliefs you'll be able to choose from. So, if you plan to use a Religion, think about it from the very beginning. You can choose whether to purchase a Missionary right after the first Prophet, or to gather more Faith for a second one and Enhance the Religion. In the first case, you'll jumpstart spreading your religion, in the second - you'll get a little more choice for Enhancement Beliefs. Also, you could try building Hagia Sophia for a free Prophet, and spend Faith on Missionaries to spread your religion fast. The Great Mosque of Djenne is also a great idea, because it gives you missionaries with ability to spread religion three times instead of two! Make sure you train most, if not all, of them in this city, though. Category:Civilization V Category:Religion